Great Scots! Aussie Socceroos become the Jockeroos with tartan tint
Never mind the Socceroos. Surely, it is now time to celebrate the ‘Jockeroos’ too.
Scotland may not have their own team to cheer at the World Cup, but this most distinguished of soccer nations is already trumpeting its support for Australia because of its remarkable connection with Graham Arnoldās squad.
It is not just that there are seven players based in the Scottish Premiership in the squad ā which is the same amount selected from the whole of Australiaās own A-League Men.
Three of Arnoldās players are Scottish-born-and-raised, and 11 have been moulded at some point in the Scottish League. One ā Jason Cummings ā has even been capped by Scotland at senior level.
When Mondayās tartan-infused squad was announced, the Scottish town of Paisley near Glasgow, home to Premiership club St Mirren, led the cheerleading after their Socceroosā midfielder Keanu Baccus made a bit of history for the team known as āthe Buddiesā.
āItās the first time St Mirren have ever had someone in a World Cup squad ā so obviously weāll all be supporting the Socceroos now,ā declared manager Stephen Robinson.
You might like
āThe whole of Paisley is going to be dressed in Australia kits.ā
And one apartment block in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh now houses three Australian teammates from the same Premiership team ā the Heartsā trio of Cammy Devlin, Nat Atkinson and Kye Rowles ā who will make their way to Qatar on Sunday.
The news of their election prompted a day of high emotion for all three, with combative midfielder Devlin revealing he had broken down in tears after months of stress and sleepless nights wondering if he would make the squad.
And there was anxiety when Arnold broke the news to him, too.
Stay informed, daily
āGraham texted me and asked if he could give me a call in 15 minutes and it was probably the longest 15 minutes of my life,ā Devlin told reporters in Scotland.
āIt was a nervous wait for the phone call but when he told me it was one of the best moments of my life.
āI donāt cry that often but if thereās ever a time when itās probably acceptable, itās when you get told youāre going to a World Cup for the first time.
āAs soon as he said, āCongratulations, youāre coming to the World Cupā, I broke down in tears.
āItās massive to be going with Kye and Natty, itās so cool to have two of my Aussie boys over here. Now to be going to a World Cup together is unreal.
āIt would have been such a shame if one or two of us missed out, so for all three of us to be going is unreal.
āAll three of us live in the same block of apartments. I got the first call and you donāt want to text the others in case theyāve had bad news then you feel like a d***head.
āWhen I found out they were both in it was such a relief.ā
Devlin believes the strong Premiership contingent of Aussies reflects well on Scottish football despite the Scots failing to qualify themselves.
āThere are a lot of other Scottish-based boys ā and boys who have played in Scotland before ā in the squad,ā he said.
āIt just shows what a competitive league it is and how respected the league is back home.ā
Want to see more stories from InDaily Qld in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily Qld as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily Qld". That's it.
